Singapore’s PM Lee defends conservative society

Singapore is a mix of democracy and authoritarianism. Its laws are extremely strict; you can be caned for vandalism, and drug trafficking carries the death penalty. This is all very unfortunate for vandals and drug users, and people like Michael Fay attracted national attention from civil rights activists for the caning he received in Singapore (he vandalised some cars, and upon release from prison and returning to America was caught sniffing butane to help him forget the “Singapore incident”).

But what the international community always forgets is that Singapore has a huge exit sign. If you don’t like Singapore, you can leave, and it’s apparently very cheap and easy to do so. Cheaper transportation means are becoming ever more available, and that will mean easier exiting for more people not just from Singapore, but from Iran, Vietnam, and India.

Like business competition, governments will have to either compete for our citizenship or close the exits. There are costs and benefits to both, but closing exits tends to be the worse option.

2 Responses

I agree. Unfortunately they don’t like the cheap labor competition, which could give us some breathing space in this recession. But with tax rates going up and more folks thinking of becoming expats, closing the exits would ensure we keep that taxpayer money around to fund Medicare. Just saying.